1. Technical Field
This patent document generally relates to contact data queries, and in particular relates to the storing and resolution of contact data received in response to contact data queries.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a user of a communication device desires to communicate with a contact, the communication device requires the communication contact data associated with the contact, such as electronic addresses or telephone numbers. When the communication contact data for a particular contact are not stored in the communication device, the user of the communication device typically must search an external database for the communication contact data. The search may take an appreciable amount of time. Furthermore, during the search, the user of the communication device may not be able to perform communication functions until the search is completed. For example, if the communication functions include initiating a phone call, the phone program cannot allow a phone call to begin until the phone number is available. Similarly, if the communication functions include composing, addressing, and sending an e-mail, the e-mail program may not allow any functions to be performed while the search for a particular e-mail address is conducted.
Additionally, the user of the communication device may not desire to store the communication contact data received in response to the search. For example, if the user desires to keep address book entries to a minimum, or if the user knows that he or she will only communicate with the particular contact infrequently, the user may elect not to store the communication contact data in the address book on the communication device. If the user, however, needs to communicate with the contact several times over the course of the day, then the user must either execute the search each time the user invokes a communication application, or review previous message data sent to the contact in order to manually retrieve the communication contact data associated with the contact.
Finally, communication contact data received in response to a search may not be made available for multiple communication applications, or at a later time after a communication is completed. For example, if a search for contacts is conducted in an e-mail application environment, the corresponding communication contact data received may include both e-mail addresses and phone numbers. However, once the e-mail communication is sent, the communication contact data received in response to the search may be deleted, and thus is not available for later use by the e-mail program or any other communication application.